Inside Secure – Semiconductor Level Security – RSA2012

February 28, 2012 - San Francisco, CA - At the RSA 2012 show, Inside Secure was showing their new NFC (Near Field Communications) and security solutions. The company has been providing IC solutions with secure micro-controllers for 25 years to the industry. One of two NFC chip suppliers in the marketplace, they were the primary supplier to RIM for the NFC function in the Blackberry phones. At the show they mentioned they were close to a deal to be designed into a major Andoroid/Windows mobile product (tablet or smartphone) making it their first major win on those OS platforms for mobile.

This MFC business was suppliemented in late 2010 with the acquisition of the secure micro-controller division of Atmel. This move along with their internally developed products for the smart card and contact-less ID business gives them a very complete product solution. Their core technology is in the VaultIC family which is consists of memory, secure microcontrollers, NFC communications, SDKs, Cryptographic proucts and full turnkey solutions for embedded applications. The toolbox includes full crypto with secure key management for applications ranging from Smart Meter & Smart Grid fucntions to telehealth applications that support secure sensor data and data center transfers.

A key point in their technology is its stability at high temperatures (up to 100C) with full authentication for data from tags and cards through a secure download. This secure download technology will allows WiFi access directly into the application DBMS and provide both confirmation and authentication of the transaction. This technology, is now being utilized fyt he pharma industry for product Flex labels that can be put on individual bottles or boxes of bottles.

For third parties developing applications around the hardware solutions, the SDK has an incorporated loyalty program and an avenue for joint promotion though the product recognition. The company is a fabless semiconductor company, and thie process and design are scalable to new process nodes based on cost, power and leakage.